I have just received a full report from Roger Kiska, our European Center for Law & Justice Counsel. Roger had been in New York working on the Eighth Ad Hoc Committee of the United Nations' ("U.N.") Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. This, in and of itself, sounds like a worthy goal and no one objects to people with disabilities obtaining rights and dignity. We certainly support that overall approach. However, the Committee and its report quickly became typical politics in the U.N.
As Rogers report indicates, rather than focusing on disabilities, the Ad Hoc Committee brought in language about abortion. They were successful in obtaining this goal by placing language in the Resolution which condemned occupying forces. You might be asking, What do occupying forces have to do with issues of disability? The answer is, Absolutely nothing! But Middle East Arab countries were willing to trade off their so-called pro-life stand in order to see language referring to Israel and the United States in a negative light. Rogers report says it all:
Final Observations: Eighth Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities
August 29, 2006
(Manhattan, New York)The close of the Eighth Ad Hoc Committee of the United Nations on a Convention for the protection and promotion of rights and dignity of the disabled brought disappointment to conservatives and pro-lifers alike. The final week of the conference began on a hopeful note as key delegates had sworn allegiance to the American proposal of removing any reference to sexual and reproductive health from the document. The Egyptian delegate proved to be the key in this area, as his vote would determine the votes of many in the Arab world, in both the Middle East and Africa.
However, the Friday preceding the last week set a dark cloud over the negotiations as delegates aggressively argued for the addition of language in Article 11 which mentioned occupation and disability, as a blatant reference to Israel. The Friday session was closed early because of the inability of the delegates to get back on the topic of disability. It proved to be the animus shown towards Israel on that Friday which would end up being the decisive key for the pro-choice lobby at the conference to win their language on sexual and reproductive health.
In the end, after a late night session at the New Zealand mission, the conference closed with the disappointing acceptance of the reproductive health language ad referendum, with the Egyptian and many Arab delegates voting for it. Not surprisingly, as many delegates and NGO representative speculated that a deal was being struck with the European Union and Arab States for voting in favor of the abortion language, the controversial occupation language was also added to the text of the Convention. Closing comments to the plenary by both the American and Israeli delegates regarding the addition of this language greatly lamented the politicization of such a crucial document for the disabled. Both States will file formal reservations during the ratification session, and the American delegates have gone as far as saying they will not sign on to the Convention all together.
Further, the language of Qatar proposed early in the Committee plenary, which supported the right of the disabled to receive full and adequate care, including food and hydration [an obvious response to the Terri Schiavo events which transpired in the United States last year] was all but completely reworded during the negotiations due to EU disapproval, and as such lost most of its meaning.
Two steps remain in the process of completing the Convention. First, a meeting to discuss the draft stylistically will be held, without any change in the substance. This will be followed by a ratification meeting in the General Assembly of the document.
With the recent Supreme Court announcement in Colombia legalizing abortion based on customary international law as found in UN conventions, it is a bitter disappointment that the Disabilities Convention should befall the same fate. ECLJ will now focus on working with international pro-life groups in formulating a definition for sexual and reproductive health at the European Union level to keep pro-choice lobbyists from forcing the term into international conventions undefined and masking the intent of promoting an international right to abortion. This process will begin during the September plenary in Strasbourg when ECLJ representatives will meet with key EU officials to discuss the subject.
This disappointing result shows why many people feel the U.N. really stands for UnNecessary.